By Rod Belcher
For many who deal with the daily inconvenience of glasses or contact lenses, LASIK surgery has offered new hope for a glasses-free life. Certain prescriptions were outside the parameters of the earlier LASIK techniques however and kept many from taking advantage of the procedure. The technology behind corrective laser surgery has changed and improved over the years and now a new LASIK system, called iLASIK™ with Advanced CustomVue™, is offering new opportunities for vision correction to many who could not undergo the procedure previously. “The Advanced CustomVue™ has the broadest range of wavefront guided approvals,” says Shannon Barksdale- Refractive Coordinator and Marketing Coordinator for Piedmont Eye Center in Lynchburg, Virginia. “That means it can work with the widest range of prescriptions.” Barksdale and Debbie Anderson, Refractive Coordinator and LASIK Technician, also with Piedmont Eye Center, say that the new iLASIK™ procedure has three distinct stages that maximize the accuracy and efficiency of the laser surgery. “The first stage involves establishing a personal vision profile for each patient,” Barksdale says. “We use a WaveScan WaveFront™ System, which creates a 3-D map of the unique imperfections of a patient’s eyes. The VISX STAR S4 IR™ Excimer Laser then downloads the WaveScan’s digital information to design a custom treatment for each eye.” The WaveScan system is an industry leader, Barksdale explains, providing acquisition and diagnostic capabilities that are quick and highly effective. The system captures the unique imperfections in each patient’s eye and provides the highest resolution available for reshaping the cornea. The evaluation is a complete medical exam and is the lengthiest part of the process, taking about two hours. The second stage in the iLASIK™ procedure is called the IntraLase Method™. This is the portion of the procedure where a flap, is created on the cornea to allow the laser to reach the points on the eye where correction is needed. “One of the areas where iLASIK™ is unique,” says Amy Carr, Marketing Coordinator with Piedmont Eye Center, “is in the IntraLase Method, which is an exclusive process. It is 100 percent blade-free.” “The laser using a micro-pulse,” Anderson explains, “creates small bubbles in the cornea and causes an area of separation. This separation creates the corneal flap, the tissue the doctor folds back to perform the iLASIK™ procedure.” The IntraLase process takes about 20 seconds to perform and Barksdale says that the results are impressive. “IntraLase Method™ delivers outstanding results, creating a thinner and cleaner flap,” she says. “More patients achieve vision that is 20/20 or better when this method is used.” The final stage of the process is the actual laser vision correction. iLASIK™ uses an advanced laser system—the VISX STAR S4 IR™ Excimer Laser, which is uploaded with the patient’s unique treatment plan, developed in stage one. The Advanced CustomVue™ process has been FDA approved to treat many visual imperfections, including mild-to severe nearsightedness, farsightedness and many types of astigmatism. “The actual correction takes anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds,” Anderson says. “The laser gently ablates the corneal tissue and reshapes the cornea’s surface”. Market Scope Data reported in 2005 that 94 percent of the population of the U.S and 99.75 percent of the population outside the U.S. are potentially eligible for the new procedure. “Clinical studies show that one year after treatment, more than 95 percent of all clinical study patients could pass a driving test without their glasses or contacts,” Anderson says. She adds that 98 percent of mild to moderate nearsighted patients and almost 75 percent of all clinical study patients who underwent the iLASIK™ procedure could see 20/20 or better without glasses or contacts. “Four times as many mild to moderate nearsighted patients were very satisfied with their night vision after treatment compared to their night vision before treatment with glasses or contacts,” she also reported. The ideal candidate for iLASIK™, Barksdale says is 21 years of age or older. “We’ve done 70 and 80 year olds,” she says. “As long as the general health of the eye is good and the patient has no cataracts or glaucoma.” She says it is also important to have the patient’s eye prescription remain stable for at least one year to qualify and the thickness and the shape of the cornea are also important. “The process requires the cornea to have a sufficient depth,” Barksdale says. “We have to have enough corneal tissue to treat. The potential patient has to have a healthy shaped cornea—if it is abnormally shaped; they aren’t eligible for the process. About 1 in 100 people have an abnormally shaped cornea. The average cost for the procedure runs approximately $2000 to $3000 per eye. The average for both eyes nationally is $5000. Carr says that Piedmont Eye Center normally charges approximately $2100 per eye—slightly below the national average. “Many people have been waiting for LASIK,” Carr says. “They have been waiting for the technology to reach a point where the process was affordable and the procedure had improved to the point where their concerns were minimized. With iLASIK™, that seems to be the tipping point for many people. The diagnostic procedure has improved considerably.” Carr stresses that unless the procedure has Advanced CustomVue™ with Iris Registration™ combined with the bladeless IntraLase Method, it isn’t iLASIK™. While Piedmont is the only iLASIK™ center in Lynchburg, facilities also operate in Roanoke and Salem and an iLASIK clinic near you can be found by entering your zip code in at www.iLASIK.com. Anderson says that the average LASIK patient has researched the procedure and has a good understanding of the technology and what it can and can not do. She points out that of the over eight million patients in America that have had LASIK performed, there have only been 140 complaints to the FDA about the procedure. “The more research you do, the less concern you will have,” she says.